SERIES | Celebrating Indigenous Makers

Indigenous Peoples’ Day can turn exploitative and extractive unless non-Native people are intentional about showing care, interest, and support (more than just one day out of the year). One way to do that is through financially supporting Native owned-businesses. From the major companies to the small makers, this financial investment makes an impact for your local Native communities.

Before settlers came to Turtle Island there was no such thing as an unhoused Native. Now, Native people make up only 2% of the population in King County but 15% of the unhoused population. In Portland, Oregon, over 12% of the unhoused population identified as Indigenous, American Indian, or Alaska Native, even though they make up only 2.5% of the population of Multnomah County. Combine the historical impacts of settler colonialism with a capitalist society that benefits and prioritizes white supremacy, and the result is Native women who work full time but only earn 59 cents compared to every dollar earned by white men.

So, in an effort to celebrate the incredible Indigenous makers in the region and support their ability to continue to create, here are some local Native-owned businesses you can purchase items from to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day, or any other day. Remember them for your holiday gifts, birthday gifts, or simply when you need a little retail therapy.

Artist Paige Pettibon, descendant of the Bitterroot Salish of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, also makes luxury jewelry as “Plain to Sea,” signifying her cultural and kinship connections to the people and the land from the plains to the sea.

Artist and graphic designer Denise Emerson, Diné (Navajo) descent and Twana (Skokomish) citizen, learned to paint from her father and to bead from her mother. She later studied graphic design at UW. Her beautiful, digitally created art prints, and suede, shell, and seed bead bags that take over a year to create can all be found on her Etsy.

Shevonne Leigh Cote, Ojibway and Mohawk, is the daughter of a residential school survivor and believes art, like ceremony, has the power to heal. You can see that in her precious Lil’ Kookum (Grandmother) Dolls, handcrafted art, and jewelry through her company LadyBear.

Husband and wife team Mark Gauti, T'Sou-ke Nation, and Marsha Gauti, Puyallup, create unique carved cedar jewelry with Coast Salish designs and put those designs on clothing and regalia through their company O-hal-chid.

Sadekaronhes and Deyorhathe Esquivel, Kanien’keha:ke and Mexican descent, make up the company Rising Sons Media. Sade is a digital artist that draws inspiration from sci-fi, comics, fantasy, and culture to envision the possibilities of Indigenous Futurism. Deyo is a musician and beadworker who blends “classic native artforms and pop culture, creating art that is both modern and traditional.” They have everything from futuristic Native-designed leggings, to iPhone cases with Sade’s take on a Native Wednesday Addams. Everything in the shop inspires excitement and ignites imagination about, and for, Native futures.

Once you’ve discovered a few Native art businesses, the threads to others will begin to pull. We hope this helps you begin to unravel the connections year-round.

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